Emerald Academy

Est. 2023
Garden Liaison: Jessica Finafrock, Loly Orozco
Spaces Supported: Vegetable Garden, Native Plant Landscaping
Student Engagement: Daytime Extracurricular Enrichment

Beginning in the Fall of 2023, the YGEP led Emerald Academy’s 7th and 8th grade students in the creation and maintenance of their own vegetable garden. This garden was supported by Ms. Loly Orozco, Founder and Creative Director of the Little Postage House, who offered for the students to steward a parcel of the land owned by the business at 507 Arthur St. Students visited the site on a biweekly basis for the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, planting and maintaining both vegetable crops and native plants, as well as steering the design of the site. After a successful pilot, Emerald Academy leadership chose to invest in a garden space on their campus for the 2025-2026 school year. Students are now leading that design process in a weekly STEM Elective, learning how to assess a growing site and determining what is needed for both plants and people. This garden is anticipated to break ground in the Spring of 2026.